The broad, long-term objective of the proposed research is to increase fundamental knowledge about the nature and development of orthographic processing in reading at both the behavioral and neural levels. The development of automatic orthographic processing skills is critical to the development of fluency in reading and orthographic deficits can underlie reading disabilities, yet little is known about the normal development of these skills. The specific aim of the proposed research is to investigate various indices of automatic orthographic processing across the elementary school years and into college in order to explore correlations among disparate indices with a converging evidence approach. To investigate how words come to be processed automatically as special orthographic entities, event-related potentials (ERPs) will be recorded to high frequency words, pseudowords, nonwords, and control stimuli in a masking paradigm based on the classic Reicher-Wheeler paradigm in groups of 7-year-old beginning readers, 11-year-old theoretically newly fluent readers, and fluently reading college students. Accuracy on the masking task, amplitude of the N200 and N400 ERP components, and scores on standardized reading tests will be analyzed for evidence of developing automaticity in orthographic processing. Findings will speak to the possibility of using multiple indices to measure the development of automaticity in orthographic processing and to the developmental time course of specialized orthographic processing for words. Exploring measures of orthographic processing will lead to a better understanding of the development of orthographic skills, which in turn may lead to better methods for teaching and learning these skills and remediating these skills in children with orthographic deficits leading to reading disability. National statistics reveal that less than one-third of both fourth and eighth graders are reading at a proficient level (U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2005 Reading Assessment). Research also shows that poor readers are at risk for a number of negative outcomes and that poor orthographic skills can underlie poor reading, but little is known about the typical development of these skills, particularly in terms of the brain. This study investigates specific orthographic skills in terms of both brain and behavior, with the goal of augmenting our understanding of orthographic development in ways that may eventually lead to better teaching and learning - and better reading in our schoolchildren. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]